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SpaceX launched a batch of 143 spacecraft from Florida on Sunday morning as part of the company’s new SmallSat Rideshare cost-cutting program, breaking the record for the most satellites lobed into space in a single launch.
The Transporter-1 mission launches a potentially lucrative business line for SpaceX, which in 2019 unveiled its SmallSat Rideshare program, essentially carpooling for dozens of satellites of different shapes and sizes. The program offers relatively inexpensive access to space for small satellite companies starting at $ 1 million for the first 485 pounds.
Much like an Uber rideshare, a company’s small satellite can hitchhike into space with other spacecraft instead of buying an entire rocket at a much higher price.
After cleaning up an initial launch attempt on Saturday due to bad weather, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off 24 hours later from its launch pad at the Cape Canaveral space station at 10 a.m. ET, sending out a mix of CubeSats from the size of a shoebox and much heavier microsatellites at a 326. Polar orbit at a thousand heights – an unusual trajectory for a Florida launch site SpaceX launched its first polar mission from Florida in August of the year last.
The launch, SpaceX’s third so far this year, marks the most satellites carried into space on a single rocket, a record previously held by an Indian satellite launch in 2017 carrying 104 satellites. The 143 spacecraft aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 include 48 earth imagery satellites dubbed SuperDoves from Planet, 17 tiny communications satellites for Toronto-based Kepler, and 30 small satellites for the US and Europe packed by Exolaunch, based in Berlin, Germany.
Also on board the flight are small capsules of human ashes arranged by Celestis, a commemorative spaceflight company. Ten Starlink satellites are also hitchhiking, pushing SpaceX towards the 1,000 mark for the number of active satellites in space supporting its broadband internet constellation.
DARPA, the Pentagon’s research and development agency, withdrew from the carpool mission earlier this month after its two 187-pound satellites were damaged during the launch process at Cape Canaveral.
The Transporter-1 mission, coming just four days after SpaceX launched 60 of its Starlink satellites into space, keeps pace with what is expected to be a remarkably eventful year in orbit as SpaceX, OneWeb and other companies rush to build vast Internet broadcast constellations. satellites. In the past 16 days, SpaceX has launched more satellites into space than the entire world has launched in any year before 2013, according to data compiled by Jonathan McDowell, Harvard astronomer and expert in satellite tracking.
Carpool missions on larger rockets are tapping into a growing demand for affordable launch services from smaller satellite companies, stepping up competition with companies like Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit with smaller rockets designed for them. launches of small dedicated satellites.
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